From Outcast to Classic
By Zeeshan Zahid The Catcher in the Rye has a broad and large history. J.D. Salinger created a popular novel that set a new course for literature after the second world war. His novel, The Catcher in the Rye, first published in 1951, a time where reading about smoking, sexual intercourse, excessive violence, and other profane things were not prominent. In addition, this book contained vulgar language, or slang, that people in the 50's were not used to seeing in fine print. Because of this, many communities and school administrations banned the book from children. They deemed the book "anti-white" because of their beliefs and culture culture (Time 1). Even though, this story about this troubled 16-year-old Holden Caulfield became a best-selling book in New York Times and still is the on Amazon in the "classic" section of their webpage. People thought that it (the book) was inappropriate, yet it still managed to set a way for literature. Like said, people in the public had opinions about the novel. For example, as explained by James Stern a journalist from the New York Times. He said that a child, more of a friend, named Helga read the story and it made her go crazy because there of the way it was written (1). For many, The Catcher in the Rye is a book that many people, especially teens, can relate to. Salinger says, “Some of my best friends are children. In fact, all of my best friends are children (Time 1)." By knowing this, you may also infer that he did not like it when the book was banned in America. People, including Salinger, had many feelings about the book being banned. We can also say that even though the book had controversial issues with explicit language and themes of isolation it was loved by people the moment it was published, take Helga or J.D. Salinger himself. He was extremely happy that his book was published in New York Times, his favorite publisher. And Helga, along with many other teens and young people, went crazy about it. Professor Delbanco from the University of Michigan explains how Salinger, and his book, captured "the way we look at the world that we share" (Turner 1). Basically, because Salinger's book had a lasting impact on America, and other countries. But why, you may ask. The answer is simple. People in the 1950's and 60's, post-WWII time, were not used to the delinquency of the book. Teachers and schools became the main people that wanted to ban the book. They wanted it banned because of it's frequent use of profanity, sexual content including prostitution, alcohol abuse, and themes of abnormality. However, The Catcher in the Rye was one of twelve books that would survive as stated by the U.S. after the war had ended. Another reason that this book has become so famous is because of Mark Chapman, the man who killed John Lennon. This relates because Mark Chapman started to read the book, signed by John Lennon himself, right after he had killed him. Another very famous assassination was that of President Ronald Reagan. John Hinckley, the assassin, shot the president (and six other people) because he not only wanted to impress Jodi Foster, but because he was obsessed with The Catcher in the Rye. This novel has created huge amounts of impacts, both positive and negative. Some thought that it was so offensive that they fired the first teacher to assign the book to a class. Salinger had even received an offer to turn his book into a movie, which he later denied. All in all, it shaped the future of literature by changing the ideas, thoughts, and writing style of many authors. That is why many people gave their regards to Salinger by mailing him letters of how good, or how bad that book was.